Open houses provide an invaluable opportunity for prospective buyers to explore properties firsthand at your leisure. Open houses are usually held on weekend afternoons, open to the public. Rather than private home tours, open houses give early home buyers the chance to explore neighborhoods and home features without “bugging” your agent over the weeks, months,…
As a Rockridge resident, I helped the Rockridge Community Planning Council (RCPC) get the word out about the 2024 Rockridge Kitchen Tour, a bi-annual ticketed event where home owners can show off 8 fabulous kitchen remodels and 2 ADUs. The kitchen tour is October 13, 2024 and you can get tickets here. The Rockridge Kitchen…
College Ave. in Oakland’s popular Rockridge neighborhood is home to many highly rated health and beauty businesses. Discover just a few in this article, re-printed with permission from the Rockridge News, April 2023. By Susie Wyshak. Compass REALTOR® and Rockridge resident. Beyond clothing, surprising ways to re-invent your look along College Avenue. PavĂ© Fine Jewelry…
Home improvement website Houzz surveyed released a 2024 survey of home improvements home owners are making this year. #1 on the list is a “return to open spaces.” “Creating separation naturally became more popular during the COVID pandemic, with only 38% of homeowners opening up their kitchens to other interior spaces in 2022 versus 53%…
With changes in 2024, home buyers will have more visibility into the compensation of agents than ever before. It’s important to know the value a buyers’ agent brings to a buyer, especially if the buyer is paying out of pocket. Whether it’s a buyers’ market (with plenty home inventory to choose from) or a sellers’…
Home staging presents a house for sale in its ideal state — decluttered, clean, and expertly furnished. So YES. Staging and the reality of living in a house have very little in common…unless you’re a modern minimalist. For most of us, especially if we’ve been in the same house for years with many family members,…
Have you lived in the Bay Area forever and are wondering why you never heard of (or went to) Marina Bay in Richmond, near Point Richmond? More importantly, are you thinking how can you get into Marina Bay and figure out which is the best community for you? Me too! Marina Bay is a collection…
On a recent trip to Mexico, the sound of the ocean crashed with the sounds of building. Everywhere! Beautiful, modern condos in Puerto Vallarta had caught my eye on Airbnb. So I wondered: Is it really safe to buy a condo pre-construction in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico? How do you know the quality and that you’re…
What if you could make not-too-expensive updates to the house you’ve loved for so many years to make it easier for you, and / or your loved ones, to age in place with accessible, safe features? AARP has put together what they call a “HomeFit” Guide to help you do just that. It’s a very…
You know you’re a Bay Area home buyer when the idea of a “rentback” to a home seller gives you chills. What if the home owner doesn’t leave? What if you become a landlord? What if you have to end up evicting them? Enter the California Association of REALTORS® (CAR) form: “Seller in Possession.” Basically…
